Hollywood Memorial

Legendary stage, radio, motion picture, and television entertainer gained international fame with wife Gracie Allen while performing as the ‘Burns & Allen’ comedy team. His TV series…’The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show’ which lasted eight years and 292 episodes, was one of the classic comedies of the 1950’s. Gracie in poor health retired afterward and finally passed away. George attempted to continue alone but became relatively dormant for a decade, however, at age 79 he became resurgent with films such as “Oh, God” (he played God) and his one man shows in Las Vegas. At the age of 80, he received an Academy Award for the role in ‘The Sunshine Boys,’ making him the oldest Oscar recipient. Still going strong, he was booked at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas for his 100th Birthday and was scheduled to play at London’s Palladium on New Years Eve 1999; always mentioning in interviews that he could not die until after his Hundredth Birthday because he was booked. Fate intervened with an accidental fall in 1994 which was his swan song. His health gradually diminished, with death coming at his Beverly Hills residence forty three days after his 100th birthday. He joined Gracie in their companion crypt located in the Freedom Mausoleum of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale. The epitaph on their tomb reads: ‘Gracie Allen. George Burns. Together Again.’ He had three stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, the most until upstaged by Bob Hope with four.